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JOHN Howard likes the world stage but suddenly he's turned into
an embarrassing extra in someone else's play.

Howard should have  must have  known he'd gone way
beyond conventional behaviour in his attack on Barack Obama.

When the PM blundered a week ago in an answer on climate change
he said he "mistook" the question. In arguably a much bigger
blunder this week, he misspoke. But he did not back off. Yesterday
he defended himself with bluster.

The offending quote, delivered in an interview with Laurie
Oakes, was a hefty swipe at both Obama and his party. "If I was
running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008
(the date by which Obama wants the troops out), and pray, as many
times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for
the Democrats," the PM said.

Howard could easily have avoided trouble, while making his
point. He could have just said: "I don't want to intervene in
American politics, but the Australian Government's position is
"

Yesterday Howard said he did not retreat from his criticism of
Obama, while also insisting he was not making any generic attack on
the Democrats  backing this up by pointing out that "there is
a great range of views on Iraq inside the Democratic Party".

Quite clearly, a claim that the terrorists would be praying for
a Democrat victory is a broadside at the Democrats, as Kevin Rudd
repeatedly pointed out.

Of course, Howard's gaffe is not anything like Mark Latham
calling George Bush "the most incompetent and dangerous president
in living memory".

But Howard has got himself embroiled in the American
presidential campaign, and prompted a blunt retort from Obama, as
well as criticisms from other American politicians, from both
parties.

Rudd, for whom foreign affairs is home turf, launched his first
censure motion against Howard off the back of the issue, and won
the debate.

In a tough and telling speech Rudd said: "To accuse the
Democratic Party of the United States of being al-Qaeda's party of
choice, to accuse the Democratic party of being the terrorists'
party of choice, to accuse the party of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy
and Johnson of being the terrorists' party of choice is a most
serious charge .

"Prime Minister, can you imagine if I stood up in this
Parliament as the alternative prime minister and said to the people
of Australia that the terrorists would be advantaged if the
Republicans were to return to the White House at the next
presidential election?"

Howard's hubris also comes on an issue on which the Australian
public is more likely to be at one with the Democratic presidential
aspirant than with the Australian PM.

After clearly losing the contest in the first week of
Parliament, when he was on the backfoot on the climate change
issue, Howard forfeited the first day of the new week on what for
him is a core issue  Iraq. And, for good measure, he is
taking a beating not just from Rudd but from US politicians who
think America's good friend and ally should be seen and not heard
 at least not in their backyard.

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Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

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